Largest U.S. refinery may be shut up to two weeks - sources

Reuters Staff

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HOUSTON (Reuters) - Motiva Enterprises’ Port Arthur, Texas refinery, the nation’s largest, may be shut as long as two weeks for assessment of the plant and repair of any damage, sources familiar with plant operations said on Thursday.

The 603,000 barrel per day (bpd) Port Arthur Refinery was shut on Wednesday due to flooding from Tropical Storm Harvey.

Motiva said they were conducting an assessment of the refinery and could not provide a timeline for the refinery’s restart.

“Given the unprecedented flooding in the city of Port Arthur, it remains uncertain how quickly the flood waters will recede, so we cannot provide a timeline for restart at this time,” the company said in a statement.

One of the sources said the shutdown could be longer.

“They’re assessing damage as the water goes down,” the source said.

In some places, water was 5 feet (1.5 meters) deep in the refinery, the sources said.